Philosophers of Our Times

Description

Eighteen of the world's most eminent philosophers of recent years tackle central questions of philosophy in this collection of the prestigious annual lectures given at the Royal Institute of Philosophy in London. The line-up of authors is stellar: Simon Blackburn, Ned Block, Tyler Burge, David Chalmers, Noam Chomsky, Jerry Fodor, Jurgen Habermas, Anthony Kenny, Christine Korsgaard, John McDowell, Alasdair MacIntyre, Thomas Nagel, Derek Parfit, T. M. Scanlon, John Searle, Sir Peter Strawson, Bernard Williams, and Mary Warnock. There are six pieces on questions to do with mind, perception, and action; four on reason and morality; six range over freedom, identity, religion, and politics; and the last two take a step back to look at philosophy itself and how it works. The best way to learn about philosophy is to read philosophy at its best: that is what this fascinating anthology offers.

About Author

Ted Honderich, Grote Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic at University College London, past chairman of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, and visiting professor at Yale and the CUNY Graduate Centre, came to England from Canada as a graduate student. He has lived in London for most of his life, and lectured in much of Europe and the East. His publications include Actual Consciousness (OUP, 2014), The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (second edition; OUP, 2005), How Free Are You? (second edition; OUP, 2002), and The Philosophers (OUP, 1999).

Contents

Introduction ; Conceiving the Impossible and the Mind-Body Problem ; Perception and its Objects ; Perception: Where Mind Begins? ; The Revenge of the Given: Mental Representation Without Conceptualization ; Attention and Mental Paint ; Some Remarks on Intention in Action ; On Having a Good ; Reasons Fundamentalism ; The Majesty of Reason ; What Is Natural? And should we care? ; Free Will as a Problem in Neurobiology ; We Are Not Human Beings ; Knowledge, Belief, and Faith ; Simple Truths, Hard Problems: Some thoughts on terror, justice, and self-defence ; Social Structures and their Threats to Moral Agency ; Religious Tolerance-The Pacemaker for Cultural Rights ; Philosophy as a Humanistic Discipline ; Why Isn't There More Progress in Philosophy?